Motorous 5
by crazyvegimab
Summary: Stan and Koji had taken her to this desolate rock at the edge of the Earth Coalition's territory to help her find herself again.  But instead of herself, Eva Wei found a man she thought she would never see again.
1. Chapter 1

AN: Hot damn, it's been a while since I posted anything here.

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><p><strong>Motorous 5<strong>

The sky was an off blue. Really, it was more of a green than a blue, not that it mattered right now, seeing as dark clouds obscured the sky from the inhabitants of the planet below. The wind and the far off scream of a thunderhead promised rain, and rain meant mud.

Eva hated mud.

She pulled her leather jacket a little closer around her body and shivered as the wind stole her warmth and ruffled her black hair.

The city smelt like motor oil and acid rain; the buildings were tall and dark—surprisingly run down for how new they all were. It had been thrown together quickly, a trading town for the purpose of housing merchants who came to sell their goods to the Earth Coalition. Despite the fact that the atmosphere was quite similar to Earth's, and the humans that scuttled all around, Eva would never be able to shake the alien feeling that she got when she stared up at the green sky.

Motorous 5 was a small Earth colony settled for the sole purpose of trade. Unlike many of the larger settlements, which sported multiple cities, and agriculture as far as the eye could see, Motorous 5 only had one city, and no plant life to speak of. It was not the most hospitable of planets—the ground was too rocky for planting, and the weather unpredictable, with storms so fierce that inhabitants would be stuck in their homes for days. But that didn't stop trade.

During the busy months, the city was alive with species from up to twenty different planets. Most didn't come to sell, but rather to deliver, Motorous 5 being the first pit stop within the Earth Coalition's vast territory—it was a place to rest before heading off to other colonies or Earth itself. Many ships often needed repairs or upgrades before going deeper into Earth territory, and as such, it was no surprise that it was an easy place for a mechanic to make a living.

But that wasn't why Eva was here.

She was twenty-three years old, and still feeling quite lost in the world. She had gone through college, and later gotten a job at a rather prestigious company that worked designing and building top-notch star-racers. She had her own apartment in the city. She was saving up to buy her own star-racer. She was getting ever closer to convincing Don to let her join him at Wei Racing—only this time, as a pilot instead of a mechanic. She thought she had everything under control.

Then Don died.

He was supposed to live much longer. Be around until Eva was in her late forties at least—make up for the lost time. He was supposed to walk her down the aisle. He was supposed to see her give birth to her first child. He was supposed to be there for her. But then one drunk idiot had run a red light. It just took one man. And Eva was alone again. The irony of it all was that now she had lost both her parents to motor vehicles.

Eva had lost herself. She stopped going to work. She stopped saving for a star-racer. She stopped even wanting to race again. She wondered if this is how her father felt when her mother had died.

Thankfully though, Eva had two people to pull her back to reality. She hadn't been dating anyone since college, and didn't have a lot of close friends. However, she had kept in contact with Stan and Koji. She hadn't heard from Rick since she had last said goodbye to him on Alwas, and of course Jordan was too busy being the Avatar to visit. Aikka had never kept his promise. But the two mechanics regularly checked up on her. Sometimes they would go a whole year without talking—only conversing once to wish each other a "Merry Christmas," or a "Happy Thanksgiving." But when Don died, Koji had practically taken Eva under his wing. He was determined to see her recover, or at least be a strong support for her. But when four months had passed, and Eva was jobless, sleeping on Stan and Koji's couch, and still just as depressed as she had been the day Don died, Koji decided it was time for a drastic change.

"Molly, we're going to set up a shop on one of the colonies." The Asian American had broken dinner's usual silence with the sort of blunt sentence that was normally attributed to Stan. Despite knowing her real name, he and Stan continued to call her Molly—it was a sort of nickname, a reminder of their time together during the Great Race.

"Oh." Eva looked up at him with dull red eyes that were almost hidden beneath her black hair. It had been too long since she had last gotten a haircut.

"All of us." Koji explained, sending a stern look in Molly's direction. He and Stan had agreed earlier that a change of scenery might be what Eva needed, that and the two mechanics had always wanted to set up their own shop on the colonies. It meant the chance to deal with and repair alien technologies, and hopefully higher pay which would allow them to spend more time on their own projects.

It took almost a half of a year, but Koji managed to secure a decent sized hanger on Motorous 5, and they already had a decent amount of business. For the last month, it had just been Koji and Eva, as Stan had stayed back on Earth to make sure their previous shop actually sold. Koji missed him terribly.

But the Earth shop had finally sold, and Stan was on his way to Motorous 5. Koji had a job he needed to finish, so Eva had been sent to the Space Port to pick him up. She shivered again in her jacket; there was no getting accustomed to this cold. Hopefully Stan's ship would arrive before the storm hit so they wouldn't be stuck at the port. Eva really did not want to spend the next two days sitting on her butt space ship hanger, waiting for the rain to let up. Plus, she wanted to help Koji with his current project.

The Space Port was quieter than usual—most likely on account of the looming storm. From above, it looked like a giant runway with hangers owned by various companies and planets scattered along the sides. These hangers were less worn down than the buildings in town, but they were caked with the red-brown Motorous 5 earth in a way that made them look unmistakably dirty. Eva's destination was one of smaller hangers—an outpost for the only commercial ship line that actually brought passengers as far as Motorous 5. The metal siding that made up the walls of the hanger had been foolishly painted white when it was first erected, and as a result it seemed to show more of the dirt than any of the hangers. It was almost brown.

Inside wasn't as dirty, but it was still painfully dull. There were a few benches for waiting along one side, and an area for bag processing, but otherwise all the space was reserved for parking the massive space ships. Currently the hanger was devoid of ships and people aside from her and a few employees. She had barely sat down when one of said employees wandered over, apparently eager to talk to her. He was about a head taller than her, with messy blond hair and an angular face. He was decked out a uniform that comprised up a white button up, ugly blue-black slacks, and working gloves. His name tag read "Devin" and he made it his business to know everyone else' business.

Ever since Eva had first set foot on Motorous 5, with long black bangs that almost covered her forlorn eyes, Devin had taken a keen interest in her. He loved to hang out around the Mechanic Shop and chat with Koji on his days off. It would have irritated both Koji and Eva to no end if it weren't for the fact that Koji was lonely without Stan to talk to, and the fact that Devin actually knew a thing or two about mechanics and wouldn't hesitate to help out.

"So Stan is flying in today, huh?" Devin asked casually, not even bothering to look at Eva as he leaned against the wall next to her bench.

"Yup," Eva replied. She hated his "cool guy" attitude, and wanted to keep the conversation as short as possible. Perhaps the Molly from the days of the Great Race would have appreciated Devin, with his cocky grin and obvious interest in her, but the Eva of now just found it irritating. A sudden gust of wind rushed into the hanger, and Eva prayed that the rain would wait until Stan and her were safely home.

"That's just fantastic! It seems like Koji has really missed him." Devin's grin was huge.

Eva grumpily hoped that Stan's return meant that Koji would stop being lonely and thus stop letting Devin loaf around the hanger.

The Space Ship chose that moment to glide into the runway, and Eva was spared from taking the effort to reply to Devin.

The ship rolled in a few minutes later and a small group of tired looking passengers exited. Stan looked just as haggard as the rest of them; Molly wondered if he had been able to sleep at all on the trip over. The first thing he did was crush her in a tight hug.

"Molly! You're a sight for sore eyes."

"Haha, I'm missed you too, Stan," Eva smiled a little and hugged him back. "Koji has been missing you so badly. He would be here right now if it weren't for a job he had to finish."

Stan let go and smiled at her. "I'm assuming that means that work is plentiful."

"Yeah, we've been pretty busy."

"That's great. It means I didn't waste all that time selling our old shop just to come to this dump. Does it get any prettier then what I saw flying in?" Stan's eyes glanced out the hanger doors to where the sky was growing darker outside.

"I'm afraid not," Eva replied with an apologetic smile. The small pleasantries continued as the two walked over to retrieve Stan's luggage from the bag handler. There were a few boxes and the odd suitcase—the only things they had left behind on Earth when they had relocated the shop to Motorous 5.

"Aww man, we can't carry all this home." The scowl was audible in Eva's voice. So far her and Koji had been able to manage the shop without any sort of vehicle: larger parts for ships were delivered directly to the shop, and smaller ones could easily be salvaged and bought from ship yards nearby. Even the grocery shop was close, no more than a five minute walk. But times like these, when Eva stared at the six or seven boxes and the large suitcase, that Eva wished they owned even a simple car.

"Allow me to help~" Devin all but cooed. "Our shuttle service can take you and your belongings home." Eva's face twitched in annoyance, but Stan was more than happy to accept the help. In no time at all, the boxes were loaded into the back of a small roofless jeep. It was a bit of a tight fit with all three of them in the front, which seemed to please Devin far too much.

Eva's eyes fluttered to the sky line as Devin drove the jeep out of the hanger. It looked like they were leaving just in time—the clouds had begun to dump their contents just a mile or so out of town. At this rate, they would just make it back to the shop in time. Hopefully Devin would find somewhere to take shelter, since Eva didn't want to be stuck with him any longer than necessary.

There was a sudden gust of air and Eva felt her head instinctively turned skyward. Even over the grind of the jeep's gears, and the soft hiss of the storm in the distance, Eva could hear it—the faint hum of a star-racer. Just like all the evenings she had spent on the roof of her dorm back at the Stern Boarding School, Eva swore for a moment that she saw a star-racer overhead. But this time it wasn't her mother's ship flying proudly, it was a flaming heap, just like it had been the fated day of her crash. For the moment it took a gasp to escape her parted lips, Eva's eyes refocused.

It was not a star-racer at all, but a space ship. And a Nourasian space ship at that.


	2. Chapter 2

AN: Sorry about the delay.

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><p><strong>Motorous 5<strong>

Chapter Two

As the Nourasian ship passed overhead, Eva felt fifteen again. It was as if red dye still stained the top of her hair, and her veins still flowed with endless determination. The flaming space ship was G'dar, Prince Aikka's mount in the Great Race of Oban, and she was once again the pilot to the Whizzing Arrow.

"Move." The words came out of her without hesitation. Devin just gave her a confused look and replied with a startled "what?".

"Get out of the seat before I push you out," Eva commanded. It took a few more moments before Devin's shocked brain registered that look in her eyes, and a another second for him to bring the vehicle to a stop so he could move out of the way.

It took far too long to Eva—she was a star-racer pilot again, and to star-racers, mere moments meant everything. As soon as Devin had moved, her palm was gripping the stick shift, and her feet had the engine roaring. The poor shuttle was racing forward at a speed the manufacturers had probably never dreamed of—up ahead, the Nourasian vessel crashed into the ground with a sound so loud it made the air thick, and Eva could only wish this shuttle had a hyperdrive.

Stan was shouting at her in alarm, and trying to convince Devin to wrestle the stick shift out of her grip, but just like so many times back on Oban, Eva ignored him completely, focusing only on her destination.

The shuttle bounced as she drove them off the runway and closer to the crash site—the flames had reached a rather impressive height, and it looked like there soon wouldn't be anything left of the space ship to salvage. Devin watched in horror as Eva's left foot hit the clutch, and her right hand slammed the stick into reverse—instantaneously killing the shuttle's engine. She set the clutch to neutral, slammed on the breaks, and the shuttle's momentum sent it spinning across the rocky ground of Motorous 5, only stopping a few yards away from the burning heap.

Again, Eva ignored Stan's shouts as she leap from the driver's seat and hit the ground running. Through the smoke, she could see an opening into the hull of the crashed ship. Just like in the old days, Eva raced forward without a second thought.

It was like entering a warm house after walking miles through a blizzard—the sudden change in temperature made Eva pause for a moment. Despite how often she inhaled the fumes of burning rubber, and scorching metal at the shop, the concentration of the smell inside the wreck was strong enough to make her immediately raise a hand to cover her nose.

The inside of the ship had large and spacious pathways, which has stopped the fire from spreading too much for the time being. The heat however, should have driven her away if the smell had not; it wouldn't be long until the whole place became a giant oven. She kicked down a door and made her way deeper into the ship. It didn't take long to reach what she assumed was the control room. The place was decorated in those swirling patterns that the Nourasians were so fond of, flames, and two bodies. The first had black hair and was dressed in an outfit similar to the one Aikka had worn during the Great Race. He lay draped over the controls of the ship, with a piece of the ceiling protruding from his back. There was no doubt that he was dead.

The second Nourasian was the only one Eva cared out though. Despite the harsh light from the flames and the wrinkles that Eva didn't remember seeing before, she was certain that the man slumped against the wall was none other than Prince Aikka. Lucky for him, he seemed to be luckier than his companion—he was still breathing.

With that old determination flowing through her veins, Eva pulled the Prince's broken body on to her back and fled the ship.

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><p>If asked about the trip back to their hanger, Eva would later admit sheepishly that she didn't remember it that well. The only thing she had been focused on was getting Aikka to safety. It seemed that the Prince had not only been knocked unconscious in the crash, but also broken a few of his ribs, broke his right arm, dealt him a small concussion, and left him with a huge assortment of burns.<p>

Thankfully, Stan knew a decent amount about first aid, and was able to set Aikka's arm and dress some of the burns. First, Stan carefully removed Aikka's armor and outer clothing so he could better treat the Prince's injuries. Eva was frozen. As the armor disappeared piece by piece, Aikka began to look less like the prince she remembered from the Great Race, and more and more unfamiliar. With his shoulder plates removed, his shoulders seemed so much smaller and less proud. With the sleeves gone, Eva noticed old scars that even the fresh burn marks couldn't hide all over his arms. With his shirt gone, Eva noticed how tight his skin seemed to fit around his ribs; she couldn't help but wonder when he had last eaten. With his head piece removed, his hair fell from the three distinct ponytails and clung to his skull like an angry bird's nest. A harsh tan line showed where the crown had once clung to his forehead.

When Stan was done, Aikka was more bandages than anything else. He looked pitiful, laying there on the guest bed, barely breathing. Eva couldn't take her eyes off him; the man she had once thought of as majestic and strong had transformed into someone so small and fragile.

Devin was the first to break the silence.

"Molly…you do realize who this is, right?"

Molly snapped out of her daze to meet Devin's grey eyes with her own harsh red orbs. She always forgot that he had never learned her real name.

"Prince Aikka of Nourasia..." She paused for a moment. "I never thought I would see him again."

Stan butt in before Devin could demand how Eva knew the sole heir to the Nourasian crown. "What I'm worried about is why he's here, in Earth's territory, and what the hell happened to him. Last time I checked, we're exactly on friendly terms with the Nourasians…"

"…He could have been piloting his ship too close to Earth territory and been shot down by one of our battle cruisers," Koji ventured, seemingly deep in thought. "But why would he be all the way out here? We're lightyears away from Nourasia…"

"The coward was running," Devin spat out. Everyone turned to look at him, surprised. "Am I the only one who pays any attention to the news? The Crogs and the Nourasians have had shaky relations for years now, and not too long ago the Crogs finally snapped and declared War on Nourasia. Not that they had to declare war to raze the place to the ground. The only way this man could be here today is if he abandoned his people to the Crogs and fled his planet with his tail between his legs."


	3. Chapter 3

AN: Sporadic Updates are sporadic.

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><p><strong>Motorous 5<strong>

Chapter Three

"Shut up!"

The room seemed to go deadly silent as everyone turned to look at Eva.

"Shut the hell up! You don't know anything about him, so just shut your mouth." It would be flippant to say that Eva was angry—she was practically livid. With fire that hadn't been in her eyes since Don died, Eva glared at Devin.

Eva's sudden emotion startled Devin into stammering slightly before he continued his attack. "I-I don't know how you would know him, but this man is an enemy of the Earth Coalition! You realize the trouble you could get into for just sheltering him here—"

The room went silent again as Eva's fist connected with Devin's jaw. He stumbled backwards, frozen in his shock. She only glared further before stomping out of the room and slamming her door shut.

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><p>In the morning, the rain was still falling.<p>

Eva's first task of the day was to check on the Prince, who seemed to still be sleeping. She wondered when and if he would ever wake up. Watching him now reminded her of that day long ago when the Prince had shown up, after Canaletto had reduced Oban to nothing but sand and rubble. He had looked small and fragile then too—laying passed out under G'dar, skin dry and baked in the sun, Eva not knowing if he was even alive. But this time was different. Even when the Prince woke up, there would be no grand adventure awaiting them afterward. There would be no Jordan there to cheer them on and act as the sense of self preservation they both seemed to lack. There would be no Don there to watch them leave with a disapproving frown, and scold them when they got back.

But even with all these absences there still was this one figure that was present.

She had been certain that she would never see Prince Aikka or Jordan ever again, but that her father would be with her for the rest of his life. But instead, she had lost her father, and gained Aikka again. Eva frowned at this thought, eyes narrowing on Aikka's face. She didn't really know if she had gained anything—who could say that Aikka would be happy to see her, or that he would even remember her for that matter? He surely wouldn't want to stay on Motorous 5, this god forsaken planet. He would leave, and she would be alone again.

Eva's lips tightened, betraying her feelings, and she fled the room.

Ignoring Devin-who had spent the night on the couch-wasn't possible as she passed through the living room to enter the kitchen, but the single glare she sent in his direction kept him from saying anything to her, so it was worth having to look at him. In the kitchen she made pancakes. At first they were perfectly round, and golden brown and then, as that grew tiring, she started to make them in simple shapes—hearts, stars, letters. The simple task of cooking pushed her thoughts away. If she only had to think about the task at hand, then life wasn't painful.

The mound of pancakes produced was impressive, to say the least. She would have to freeze some and save them for later. In the meantime, she set a few on a plate for herself, put most of them in the freezer, and then put the remainder on a plate in the fridge for Stan and Koji. Though both of them were normally early risers, Stan had spent the previous day traveling, and no doubt he and Koji had been up late last night "catching up." It was best to let them sleep. As a final thought before parting the kitchen, she put a few pancakes on a plate for Devin and set them on the couch without looking at him. Finally, set settled down in the chair in the guest room, watching Aikka thoughtfully as she ate.

Breakfast was finished and the Prince had yet to wake up. Dishes were cleaned and put away and the Prince at yet to wake up. The morning slipped away while no one noticed, and the Prince had yet to wake up. Eva sat on her phone, looking at the news. A small keypad that was about the size of her palm rested between her thumbs while a holographic screen was displayed at about her eyelevel. A news report shown on the screen—the report was on the current war torn state of Nourasia. The camera switched between a variety of scenes—castles, villages, marketplaces—but none seemed to have been spared by the Crogs attack. "Not that they had to declare war to raze the place to the ground." Eva hated to admit it, but Devin's words from the night before seemed to describe the situation on Nourasia completely; there was little to nothing left.

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><p>Even when his eyes opened, Aikka couldn't be certain if he was really awake. His body ached, and it the world seemed to be taking its sweet time coming into focus. The first thing he typically did in the morning was make a quick mental list of all the things he needed to get done that day. Today, however, his mind was giving him a blank. His worry manifested itself in a slight frown as he scrambled through his typical daily routine—surely there were meetings to go to, or treaties to be signed, or complaints to be looked over. And if there was extra time, his sword skills always needed more polishing, and G'dar would definitely enjoy some attention—<p>

G'dar?

And then it all came back to him, the tension with the Crogs, the war declaration, the invasion…the destruction. It all came back to him in such a rush of memories and information that he was left reeling and gasping for breath. They had escaped, and they had gotten so far, but they hadn't been in friendly space yet when they were shot down. The engines had failed, and then they were pulled in by the gravitation force of a nearby planet, and after going through the atmosphere they had crashed, and then… and then what…?

His eyelids immediately flew open, and he leapt from the bed where he was laying—or rather, tired to, before crumbling back down due to pain from wounds he didn't remember having. Almost immediately, the worried voice of a woman reached his ears, and strong hands pushed him back down. Black hair flashed in his vision, and Aikka felt himself calm down. So they had both survived the crash then. He wasn't sure what planet they were now stranded on, but they were together, and she was taking care of him, like always. A small smile flowered on his lips, and he looked up, so glad to have her face there to comfort him after everything, so glad not to be alone, and just as her name formed on his lips, his world shattered.

"Aikka! You idiot! Don't move so quickly, you're going to mess up your arm or your ribs!"

This woman, she wasn't his woman. She was a human, young, and perhaps beautiful to some, with startling red eyes and a tattooed face. Her scolding seemed to be a mask for her worry, which was apparent in the bags under her eyes, and the way her hands shook slightly. Wait, this human…he knew this human.

"Molly?"


End file.
